


Fruitless

by strikeyourcolors



Series: Convenience [2]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Depression, Discussion of Abortion, Eventual Happy Ending, Extremely Dubious Consent, Forced Pregnancy, Gen, M/M, Marriage of Convenience, Mpreg, Not really a sequel, Unhappy parenting, alternate universe fic, non-graphic birth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-14
Updated: 2019-09-14
Packaged: 2020-10-18 17:42:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20643128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strikeyourcolors/pseuds/strikeyourcolors
Summary: Gotham is on a downward spiral, half destroyed and falling fast. With Bruce Wayne in jail and no other funding coming into the city, something has to be done. Tim's fortune is limited, but that doesn't mean he's not going to do everything he can to save it, even if that everything includes selling himself to Ra's al Ghul.How far is he willing to go to save his city? He's certainly willing to trade his life, but what about that of another? What can Ra's reasonably ask of him in exchange for his help? At least, he thinks, he has Jason to count on if the situation gets too dangerous.(the alternate ending to "Of Convenience")





	Fruitless

**Author's Note:**

> This story was written for a challenge to sit and write a complete work in one go, without breaks, and without working on anything else. I kind of cheated, because this is entirely built off of "Of Convenience" and was one of the hypothetical endings to that. 
> 
> This jumps off after Chapter Four, but you can read only the first chapter of "Of Convenience" and be fine. Actually, you can read none of it and be fine on the basis of the summary, but for the full experience please jump over to that fic (the first in this series) and read the first chapter (the first four if you want to be thorough). 
> 
> Mind the tags for this. There is no graphic rape, but Tim's consent is probably questionable. It definitely has a far different vibe than the original, which is why I was swayed to the initial ending.

It doesn't take the first time. 

The second time, either, it doesn't catch. It being a baby, or Ra's's sperm, or his egg, or _something_. Whatever the phrase means, Tim isn't pregnant. It's not surprising, given the alpha's age and the fact Tim has only had one heat cycle, not shared with his would-be mate. 

Ra's has decided to wait on any marriage or bonding contracts until Tim actually provides him with a child. There's no sense in being hasty, he says, when for all their efforts Tim might prove infertile and their deal is null and void. The omega wants to argue the point, that not all fertility problems are because of the omega, but he's sure a man around for centuries is smart enough to realize that and no baby is no baby, and a breach of contract, no matter who is responsible. 

Having sex with an immortal alpha is, likewise, bizarre. The first time they played chess and Tim's stomach growled throughout the mating because he'd been too nervous to eat dinner. The second time they played chess and Tim drank way too much. Neither time did he allow Ra's to knot, and they waited the suggested two weeks, tested, and tried again. 

He would have thought it would be stranger. He's fucking an enemy of his family. He's fucking his adoptive brother's grandfather. He's sold himself, like some kind of fancy prostitute or like an omega of two hundred years ago. All in all, however, it feels empty. Get up, brush his teeth, fuck Ra's al Ghul, have breakfast, spend some time in the library...he hasn't dabbled much in casual sex but he assumes this is relatively what it's like. 

They're on the fourth, or maybe fifth attempt when Ra's finally addresses it. Tim is lying on the bed nearly upside down from how many pillows are crammed under his hips. It felt degrading, the first time, but now he feels like it's a small price to pay to maybe get this show on the road and prove he can get pregnant. It's like a personal challenge to him, because in all his calculations he'd factored in gestation and the period afterward before it was safe to conceive again, but he's never counted on it taking _this long_ to get pregnant. 

“Perhaps we should try during your heat period,” Ra's suggests, which feels unfair when Tim is essentially captive in bed. It's an acquiesce he made for refusing the alpha to knot inside him so he can hardly leap up and run out of the room like he wishes he could. “I realize you are reluctant to be so vulnerable and exposed, Timothy, but even you would agree that it would increase the chances of conception exponentially.” 

Omegas can conceive outside a heat but Ra's is correct. Heats are _designed_ for omegas to get pregnant. He's being stubborn and stupid by refusing to have sex during one but Ra's had used the term 'mounted' and Tim had decided he never wanted to hear it again or have that done to him. Sex was one thing. Sex on his hands and knees was the same thing with a different view. Actually being wet, wanting it, and being satisfied by an alpha's knot turned his stomach. 

Tim doesn't answer, so Ra's continues. “I have quite a few years if you would like to continue on this path. You, however, have a limited time span. Would you really wish to continue as such for the rest of your fertile years?”

“What do you do when I'm at the end of my fertile years?” Tim counters. “Do I get killed then or released into the wild?”

“I have quite a few years to decide that,” the alpha answers with a smile that feels patronizing but, Tim's found, is just the way his face looks. Ra's isn't a bad looking man, when all is said and done. He's not sure if that comforts or disturbs him, especially on the nights he realizes Talia is pretty and not all of her genetics came from her mother. 

Tim stares at the clock, willing his fifteen minutes to be up. “I'll think about it.” 

“That is all I ask,” Ra's replies. He pours himself a cup of coffee, delivered to his bedchamber while Tim was still half dazed. The smell entices him and it's probably a bribe for his cooperation; Ra's still has access to the absolutely best coffee Tim could want. 

He has a cup, because he's skilled enough to drink it almost completely horizontal, and Ra's tells him he'll see him at dinner before he leaves. They rarely have sex at night, which is an interesting quirk but not one Tim minds so much or even questions. 

~*~*~

He thinks about it, during the next two weeks. He's already realized a continuous cycle of getting inseminated would yield better results than this odd calendared system he's invented with the goal of having sex as few times as possible. Having sex during his heat probably could cut these numbers in half in pure volume. 

He considers asking to be unconscious during it, but that's simply disturbing. He also questions why they don't simply use artificial insemination if all Ra's wants is an heir, but that isn't agreeable to him. A natural born heir, he says, and that means naturally conceived too though he's not above more advanced means if Tim keeps failing to conceive. 

At last, common sense wins out over his personal sense of shame and boundaries and possibly decency. The faster he's pregnant, the faster he doesn't have to sleep with Ra's, the faster he's on his way back to Gotham. 

He sends a note to Ra's of his agreement. He puts it in writing, with his signature, like he would do any mating contract. That night at dinner, there's apple pie which he'd told the alpha was one of his favorites. Of course one thing has to do with the other, but Tim pretends otherwise and neither of them mention that sharing his heat was bought with logic and paid for with apple pie. 

Heat with the alpha is definitely even more bizarre, but Tim has the haze of hormones to see him through. Ra's has learned quite a bit about pleasing an omega in all his years of life. Tim never feels any physical discomfort. 

“Stop,” he murmurs when Ra's is trying to go down on him. His fingers tangle, for the first time, in the old man's hair. “Stop. That doesn't make babies.” He knows that even if he also knows how good it would feel, and how desperate he is. 

“Orgasm increases the odds of conception, but if you had rather I not, Detective.” And the man sounds so damn _reasonable_ in his heat-drink brain. 

“It's...it's fine,” he agrees. Ra's sticks fingers inside him, licks around them, and sucks his cock, and Tim comes harder than he has in ages. 

The rest is a blur, blessedly and horribly, when Tim tries to think of it later. He knows that he came a couple of more times when they actually had sex. He knows Ra's kept to his promise not to bite him, and not to mark him, but that the man definitely knotted him and Tim fell asleep in his bed and more or less stayed there for the next few hours and for another round. 

It becomes another thing they don't speak of, when Tim is recovered enough from his heat to be out and about again. If Ra's touches him more, and speaks more familiarly with him, no one comments on it. Tim decides he likes his guards doing what he says, within his reason, too much to complain and protest that he's his own person. Surely it doesn't need to be said. 

Two weeks later, he's not just himself, he's another person too. Well, not yet, because there's still no consensus on when consciousness begins in a fetus, but he has that potential. He stares at the little test strip that has turned blue. There are no directions to read, but he knows by heart how to piss in a cup and dunk a strip in the liquid. Normally he gets a pink dip line showing he completed the test properly. This time he gets the pink dip line and a faint blue shade, spreading over the white. 

He thinks about hiding it. He thinks about dipping another stick in water to present to Ra's later. It's a panic instinct, truly. Even with this being the end goal, Tim is still not absolutely sure he wants it and when he needs to think, his first instinct is to keep every snippet of information to himself. He can buy himself two more weeks, more if he lies again. But, once again, he has to wonder to what end. 

He tells Ra's when he's giving him a report. The farmlands to the East are properly cultivated. His hydro-farm is working wonders. “Also, I appear to be pregnant,” he adds in, as casually as he can. “But I think that the rice crop should be better engineered to withstand frost. In this climate it isn't a problem, but in another-” 

Ra's holds up a hand for silence. Tim trails off, hating how hard his heart is beating. He wonders if Ra's can hear it, and reminds himself for the hundredth time that the man isn't a vampire and doesn't have super senses. “You're with child?”

“The test says that,” Tim admits. “Three of them, actually.” 

Ra's smirks, but has the decency to not to mention that it was a heat he suggested. “We will have to celebrate,” he says mildly. “What do you think would mix well with the rice crop?”

They're off again, talking business. Tim's never imagined telling anyone he's having their child. It's never been high on his list of priorities to be a parent, or to provide anyone else with a baby, so he's never fantasized about it. For the better, possibly, because he can pretend it isn't happening for a while longer. 

More fruits appear in his breakfast. Jason Todd appears a few days after he told Ra's the news. They haven't shared it publicly. It's too early, Tim said, to be sure the pregnancy is viable. The alpha had agreed and informed him his risk of assassination was no doubt increased and so they should wait until he had a more advanced security detail. 

He sees the need when he finds Jason sitting on his bed. “Is it true?” The man asks, never one to mince words. 

Tim nods. 

“Fuck,” Jason swears like he's the father and it's entirely unplanned. “I didn't think you'd go through with it. What did he use?”

He blinks. “What do you mean 'what did he use?'” he mimics back. 

“Like, was it a needle? Did he design the kid? Were you-” Jason watches Tim, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot. “Ew. Fuck. He used his penis?”

“It's how most pregnancies happen,” Tim snaps, hating how ashamed he feels with Jason watching him so closely. He's made peace with his decision. He's saving Gotham, he's saving their family, and why should the method by which he does it matter if it only impacts him. “It's fine. I don't have to do it again for a long time and even then it's just if this one isn't what he wants.” 

The larger man stares at him. “Do you hear yourself when you talk? Do you have a brain worm? That's not _right_, Tim. You're _pregnant_ and _it_ was fucking Ra's al Ghul.” 

He wants to put his hands over his face, but he resists. He's an adult and Jason has no right to judge him. “I'm saving Gotham,” he says and hopes it doesn't sound as desperate as he feels. “I'm doing it for Gotham.” 

“You're insane,” Jason replies. “Pack your shit, Tim. We're getting out of here. No more. You're coming home, we're all figuring out how to fix this. Whatever you want to do about being pregnant is your business but you're getting out of here and away from him.” 

Tim hisses at him. It must be a strange noise, because it makes Jason pause mid-stride to stare. “You think I haven't considered every other option? I'd prefer to not being doing this either but, guess what, the world isn't always what we want.” 

Jason's head cocks to the side. “You're seriously lecturing me about the world not being fair?”

“I'm _fine_ here,” he stresses. “I'm useful here. This might not be what I would want in an ideal world but it's what I want now. I have the ability to make choices, and this is mine.” 

“That's fucked,” Jason says simply. 

“You're fucked,” Tim counters pettily. 

Jason rolls his eyes. “The urge to carry you out of here kicking and screaming is pretty strong but, you know what? Fuck up your own life however badly you want, but don't expect me to get you out of it when you realize your mistake.” 

“I don't need you to save me,” Tim says with a shake of his head. 

“Good,” the other man replies with a casual shrug. “Because I'm not even going to speak to you again, let alone save you. Don't worry, though. I'll tell Dick he's going to be an uncle and Damian that he's going to be an uncle. And a nephew.” 

It hurts. It hurts more than anything else Tim has endured being here. The idea that Jason would never speak to him is soul-crushing. It robs the air from his lungs. It makes him want to be sick. He can't imagine never speaking to the man again. He can't imagine never touching Jason. Always, in the back of his head, he thought he'd go back to him. The world would be saved and they could be together and it would be fine if Jason would just _wait_. 

Instead, he turns his back. He's lucky that he doesn't start crying until Jason is gone. 

He cries until he actually is sick, and his head pounds, and his eyes are so swollen that they hurt as well. He tells himself it's hormones, because they change so rapidly in early pregnancy, but he knows he's mourning the fact that his old life really is over. 

Ra's sees how puffy his face is in the morning, but he doesn't comment on it. He asks Tim about his folic acid requirements. 

~*~*~

Being pregnant, it turns out, is relatively easy for Tim. Ra's places other omegas who have given birth in easily accessible positions. He chats with a male omega repairing a water vent, whose had three babies. Two pregnancies were a breeze, he said. The third was enough to make him swear off having any more. 

Tim tries not to think of the fact that he might have to do this five times, and each time might not be like this. 

One of his bodyguards has an infant. Tim asks a few questions, but not as many as he probably should. He misses his unlimited access to the internet, and to the best doctors in the city. He misses Alfred's sage advice and even Bruce's promises to find answers, if he didn't know them right off. He feels incredibly isolated, having his body change, begin growing a fetus, and plan to betray him in every way imaginable. 

He finds out at his first ultrasound that the fetus has implanted correctly in his uterus. 

He finds out at the second ultrasound that there are two heartbeats. He isn't certain if that means this pregnancy counts as two attempts, or if Ra's will still hold him to a full five pregnancies. He wonders if he's a shitty person, the entire way back to his room, because his first thought had been to fulfilling his contract rather than to the fact that he was having twins. 

Ra's is more than pleased at the news. He dotes on Tim, the way a mate would. Tim refuses to eat off his plate or sit on his lap, but he finds that it eases his migraines when Ra's scratches his scalp and that lying in front of the fireplace in his study while he finishes business allows him to catch a nap, even when he's been plagued by insomnia. 

He's over halfway through the pregnancy when he realizes he can't ignore it any more. He's only gained six pounds. He knows he'll gain even more, at a rapid rate. He's more exhausted than normal, and hornier than normal, and so incredibly _lonely_ that he thinks about begging Ra's for a trip to Gotham. He's surrounded by people in this place, but this isn't his pack. This isn't his home. He feels like it's a stupid omega instinct, but definitely he has a strong need to be surrounded by family. 

Tim is allowed to send a letter. Logically, only Dick would think about visiting him, but he doesn't ask and he doesn't expect that. Ra's promises him a trip to Gotham when it's safe for him to travel, which is after the birth of the babies, and no doubt he'll hold on to Tim's children as collateral for his return. 

He shares Ra's's bed for all of two weeks with his need to be close to someone. He wakes up to the alpha's hand on the slight pooch of his belly, and the roll of a fetus inside him, and he throws up all over the Persian carpet. 

He wonders how he ever thought he could do this. He hates being pregnant. He hates being so far from home. He has a purpose here, true, but the busy work doesn't keep his mind occupied well enough. Always he's drawn back to thoughts of Gotham, and the good he could be doing for his city. 

“You're unhappy,” Ra's states when he returns from some venture in another country. Tim had asked to go and been refused. Ra's had been gone a full two weeks. Tim's past the point of a legal abortion, and hes not sure why that weighs heavily on his mind. “Did something happen in my absence?”

Tim has to make an effort not to touch the proof of his pregnancy. He wants to rub the stretched skin, and cradle the extra weight. It makes him feel humiliated and disgusted with himself when he does it. “No.” 

Ra's guides him into his private study, and shuts the door behind him. “You have seemed quite unhappy as of late. I believed it to be a shift of hormones, but it can hardly be good for you or your children to continue in this state. Are you displeased with me?”

He seems so concerned. Ra's al Ghul seems so genuinely concerned for his health and well being. Probably, it's because he's an incubator, currently. However it's more than anyone has offered him, even before he left Gotham. It wasn't as though Damian spoke to him often and Dick had enough to worry about without tending his mental health. Tim has been an island, and it has finally started to get to him. 

It breaks like a dam. Tim spills his feelings, his fears. He's not going to be a good parent. He hasn't spoken a word, or spared much thought as to who the babies inside him will be as people rather than parasites. He hasn't considered names, he hasn't started strengthening his body for labor, he doesn't know how to raise children on his own or with a super villain as the other parent. 

Even the last part gets only a patient smile out of Ra's. He strokes his hair and pets his shoulder. Tim doesn't cry, but he does nearly have a panic attack. “You don't have to raise the children,” Ra's soothes. “You can leave them here, to my attention. They will have the best care and the best education I can offer.” 

Tim isn't sure if that makes him feel better, or terribly guilty that he's considering it. Before he started this venture, he tried to think of Ra's as a parent. He swore he would never leave any child of his in this place unattended. He'd even made plans to take a child out of Ra's's clutches, if he felt it was in danger. “I still have to give birth,” he reminds Ra's. 

For the first time, the alpha's hand is on his stomach and he doesn't slap it away. No motion from the children within follows the touch, blessedly. It's a touch of possession, of genuine pleasure, and Tim hates his lizard omega brain that feels so safe and secure in knowing there's an alpha nearby. Ra's is over a foot taller than him, much broader, and Tim has to overcome the urge to simply hide against him. 

This man is not his friend. This man might not be an enemy, and might be the alpha who fathered his children, but he is not a friend. Tim must remember that. 

“You only have to be as involved as you wish to be, once the children are born,” Ra's reminds him when he escorts him through the halls and back to his bedroom. It's the safest place Tim can think of to hole up, for the time being. “I would hope you would interact with them, as children need to know where they came from, but it is not required.” 

Ra's kisses him on the cheek before he leaves. Tim is left feeling, for the first time in his life, like he truly is nothing but a vessel. 

~*~*~

He makes a conscious effort to be more of a parent. He reads parenting books, then delves into information about labor and delivery. He tries to pick out baby names, and runs them by Ra's, and is left feeling incredibly unsettled by the entire interaction. 

He's slept with this alpha. He's carrying children fathered by him. Ra's has given him a purpose, Ra's is saving his home city, Ra's has treated him with kindness and respect. Still, their relationship is undefined. It leaves him more and more unsettled, as the weeks pass. 

Tim is also more exhausted. The extra weight is hard on him. The stress of Gotham's continual slide to chaos troubles him to the point Ra's threatens to ban all incoming news, but he knows that would truly drive Tim over the edge. He appeases him with an advancement of his loan, delivered into the hands of Nightwing. 

When Tim dreams, he dreams of Jason, and he wakes with the frightening knowledge he'll probably never see him again, and if he does he won't be able to look him in the face. 

He starts to think about the babies in real terms. His children, nestled inside him. It's still insane to think about, but he tries. He's rarely held babies, or small children, and he's about to have two of them. 

A letter arrives from Dick, and it's kind enough that Tim thinks there still might be hope, at least with that brother. 

All the while, he works on projects to make the compound more self-sustaining. He gets to know the residents, the servants, even the assassins. It isn't home. It will never be home, but it's where he is for now. He can work with that. 

~*~*~

Tim gives birth one night during a rare thunderstorm. The compound is in chaos, protecting crops and delicate equipment from torrential downpours and lightnings. Ra's is overseeing some of the measures, while Tim supervises others. That's when he feels violent, harsh cramps, and knows that he can't deny nature any longer. 

There's a doctor and a midwife in attendance, as well as the most trusted of omega servants. Ra's surprises him by not only being in the birthing room, but actually being useful. He offers Tim water and juice, he lifts him to his feet when he wants to pace, and he keeps close watch on the proceedings. 

The entire procedure is painful, and disgusting. It goes well, or so the midwife assures him. His water doesn't break until late in the labor. The heartbeats stay strong. His blood pressure and temperature are perfect throughout and the babies are in an excellent position for a regular delivery.

He only tears a bit when the first baby is born. It feels like it rips him apart. “A boy,” the doctor announces, to Ra's more than Tim. He whisks the baby away to examine without giving the omega even a glance at his firstborn. 

_A son_, Tim thinks, incredibly dazed.

“Don't rest yet,” the midwife urges. “You have another job to do.” 

Ra's follows the baby, off to examine the child for any defect. Tim wants to see. He wants to hold the baby, more than he's wanted anything in his life. “Let me see,” he urges, and swears he's not begging. 

The alpha holds up the squirming, bloody infant. He's small, as twins are prone to be, and he looks like a newborn. There's nothing distinguishing about him, from this distance. Tim knows he'll feel differently when he's holding him, scenting him, but at the moment he's relieved the child seems healthy. 

Twenty minutes later, the second baby arrives. It's a breech presentation, with caul clinging around the baby like a cocoon. It's not a delivery that Tim would have done well in, had the baby been bigger or born first, but as it is they manage well enough. 

The midwife, another omega, drops the baby on his abdomen as soon as it's out. Another boy, as bloody and pink as his brother. “Not identical,” the woman says, holding Tim's legs apart when he wants nothing more than to snap them shut and nurse the agony slowly spreading through his body. 

He has time to marvel at his second son. Tiny fingers and toes, and each of his ribs is visible beneath skin that seems nearly translucent. He's tiny; Tim can see him breathing frantically, whimpering and offering little cries to clear his lungs. He's overcome by the strongest urge to attack the doctor when the man approaches to take the second baby, but Ra's soothes him, oddly enough, by bringing his first child over to him. 

The babies look identical to him, which probably doesn't speak to his prowess as an omega. They do smell different, and he's relieved that they are both out of him and he feels something toward them, even if it isn't overwhelming. 

“You did quite well, Timothy,” Ra's compliments him. The man looks bizarre, holding such a small baby. “Two sons, and both alphas.” 

Tim tries to scent them again, beneath the layers of blood in the room. He doesn't smell them as any designation. “How do you know?”

“Blood tests,” Ra's replies. “Do you truly believe I would leave anything to chance as far as raising them?”

“I'm going to give you something for the pain,” the doctor cuts in. 

“That's illegal,” Tim tells Ra's. “The blood tests only check for one-” He feels a stick in his thigh. It's a miracle he can feel anything at all, but he jerks away to see the needle being withdrawn. “I didn't say you could give me anything.” 

The doctor doesn't even look at him. “The crash after birth is the most dangerous,” he says to Ra's. “Omegas are much more reasonable when their hormones have time to settle.” 

It's sexist. It's _wrong_. Tim is furious, weakened as he is. He's just shoved two entire new humans out of him and he didn't do it so his wishes with his own body could be overlooked. 

Darkness is closing in fast. A rush of warmth floods through his exhausted body, but Tim knows it's more sedative than painkiller that's flowing through him. It occurs to him that, two male alphas delivered, Ra's might be ready to dispose of him. It's not an all together unpleasant thought as he drifts off. 

~*~*~

He refuses to admit Ra's to his bedroom for the next week. Not until the doctor is punished, Tim insists, and he's never felt so vengeful in his life. It shouldn't be as traumatic as it is, but he finds his mind spinning around it. 

He expects the Demon's head to counter-threaten by depriving him of his newborns. He doesn't, however, and Tim spends a few hours a day simply staring at the babies. There are nannies to feed and dress and bathe them, and Tim isn't eager to take over those tasks. They're cute, he thinks, and they're _his_ and he still has no idea what to do with them. They don't even have names and none have formed in his mind, but he knows he doesn't want to leave that totally to Ra's. 

When he finally agrees to see the alpha, they sit across from one another in Tim's sitting room like it's the early days. Tim is still considered an omega “in confinement” and while part of him wants to go out, bleeding and disgusting as he seems to be, to prove a point, the other part of him never wants to see anyone again. “You knew they were boys.” 

Ra's nods. “You had the opportunity to ask as well, Timothy. You simply never bothered. You seem repulsed by the opportunity to view them.” 

Tim remembers avoiding looking at the screen during the second ultrasound, asking only if they were developing well and if everything looked normal. “If I'd been a woman, you could have known before then.” As early as ten weeks, Tim knows. The blood test is fairly accurate in looking for the presence of a Y chromosome, but it's obviously ineffective with a male omega. “Is there a test for an alpha? Did you know that before?”

“Not until they were born,” Ra's replies. He's had tea brought in, and he sips it. His ankle is on the opposite knee. “It was quite pleasing, I confess. Are you not relieved? You have delivered on your end of the bargain in one pregnancy and while I'm certain the labor was difficult, you have come out no worse for the wear.” 

He's so furious it makes him dizzy. He's pretty sure that's also low blood pressure. “You let your doctor _drug_ me. I didn't even get to hold one of the children I had just _pushed out of me_ and why? Because I'm an omega? No one here ever treated me like that and then when I'm vulnerable, you allow it?” He's not going to cry, hormones aside. He's not even going to yell, because the babies are dozing in a cot in the corner. “I'm a person, Ra's, and you talk a great game about wanting me to be your partner and your mate but you don't let someone treat your equal like that.” 

There's a flicker of agreement behind those oddly-toned eyed. Tim hadn't expected that, and grits his teeth before he says anything else. “What punishment would you have inflicted upon him, Timothy? He committed a crime against your person, and you should choose.” 

In his darker moments, Tim's thought about having him killed. He feels ashamed, then, because nine months of humiliation at the man's hands and a culmination of being deprived of holding his child probably aren't worth a man's life. Bruce definitely wouldn't think so, and it's proof of how long Tim has been away from home that he even considers it. “Make him leave,” Tim says. “Never use his services again.” 

Ra's tips his head. “And if he shares secrets when he is no longer in my employ?”

“What you do to traitors doesn't matter to me,” he answers airily, even if he feels sick to his stomach. It's not his fault, he reminds himself. The doctor had choices all along the way to avoid any potential fate he brings upon himself. 

He's not sure why he feels glad that Ra's looks so pleased. “As you will it. Am I forgiven now?”

“Yes,” Tim says grudgingly. 

Ra's kisses him, and Tim allows it, and it's so domestic that Tim feels like this all might be some fever dream. He doesn't love Ra's. He's not attracted to him. But the man is, potentially, his strongest ally in this place. He's had his children. “About Gotham,” he begins.

“I have already begun preparations,” Ra's reassures him. “I suppose you have input into the names of our children?”

He doesn't. “I like Alexander,” he blurs out, because he can't admit to having put no thought into this. “Milo, as well. Joseph. Frank.” He's maybe gone too far with the last one and he knows he should stop before Ra's realizes that Tim is naming off characters from books he liked as a child. 

“Perhaps something more traditional,” The man suggests. 

Ultimately, Ra's names the youngest baby Baz, and Tim determines it to be short for Sebastian. The older gives them both some hesitation. They still look like babies, and they still have very limited personalities. “Asim,” Ra's suggests at last. 

“Asher,” Tim counters, to be a little difficult. 

Ra's simply nods, and Tim knows they'll both be calling these children as they please. 

He writes Dick, with another sizable gift of weapons and money from Ra's, to tell him that he's an uncle. He's surprised when a note is returned, a scant week later. 

_Are you okay?_ Dick asks, where anyone can read it, and beneath it in code asks if Tim needs him to come rescue him. It's sweet, Tim thinks, that Dick thinks he can still save him. 

He writes back that he is well taken care of and safe. He asks how all the members of the family are, and he knows that Dick's rage will be a tangible thing when he works out how Tim has obtained Gotham's future. _Where is Jason?_ he writes in code, because he wants to torture himself. _Stay where you are_. Which isn't, he thinks, denying that he needs to be rescued but accepting the limitations of his life.

~*~*~

He starts to take more care of Ash and Baz. The nannies show him how to feed and diaper both children. Baz likes singing, and Ash is a more serious sort of baby, but Tim grows fond of them both. They never quite feel like his, but he's read that even the parents of much wanted and longed-for children sometimes have detachment issues. It is, after all, dropping a new person into your life and expecting you to instantaneously adore that person while knowing nothing about them. 

These people in his life just tend to be screaming, wiggling, ungrateful newborns. 

Baz has one blue eye and one brown eye, and looks enough like Damian that Tim is a bit wary. Ash is bigger, with dark eyes that might be green or brown, and Tim sees a lot of his own father in his features. 

They are six months old when he sees Jason Todd again. There's no covert rendezvous in his bedroom; Jason is dragged before them in the throne room of the Demon's Head, after Tim is summoned to attend. 

His heart skips a beat, even if it's been over a year since he's seen the other man. Jason is battered, thinner than normal, and the dark circles under his eyes momentarily make Tim question if he's been punched. The answer is yes, but not in the face. 

“You wanted to see him,” Ra's says to Jason, gesturing to Tim as he walks toward the front of the room and tries not to trip. “Here he is. You will see he's in quite good condition.” 

Tim has worked hard to get back to the conditioning he had before the twins. He still feels uncomfortable as Jason stares at him. Their eyes meet and, for a change, Tim can't tell at all what Jason is thinking, or what he wants. 

“My guards found him on the outskirts of the complex,” Ra's explains. “I thought it best they assist him in finding a way inside. He claims to be looking toward your safety. I informed him that you're quite well and contented, but he insisted upon seeing for himself.” 

They are still staring one another down, and Tim hates how weak he feels in the face of Jason's gaze. “I'm fine,” he says simply. What else is there to add? He turns his gaze to Ra's. “I didn't ask him to come here, but I'd request you don't kill him or hurt him, all the same.” 

He doesn't want anyone hurt. Someone from Gotham he'd never met could show up and he feels like he would be desperate for their acknowledgment; he's losing all his ties to his home, and to who he was.  
Ra's agrees to let them speak, and to treat Jason as a guest before escorting him to wherever it is he would like to go, as long as it is far away from Tim. The other is clearly surprised by Ra's having any compliance with anything Tim requests, but he keeps his mouth shut. 

“Are you here to rescue me?” Tim asks when they're alone, in his bedroom. It feels improper, somehow, but it also feels far more secure than anywhere else to Tim. 

Jason has his boot off, and is rubbing his swollen ankle. “You don't look like you need rescuing. I was in the neighborhood and thought I'd check in on you.” 

“Yeah. I'm sure you were in this neighborhood,” Tim replies sarcastically. He sighs. “Seriously, Jason. Why are you here?”

“Gotham is turning around,” Jason admits, after staring at him way too long. “I thought you'd want to come home and see it. You can judge if it was worth it if you see it for yourself, can't you? It's because of you.” 

It's everything that Tim has wanted to hear. Gotham is going to recover. All of this was _worth it_ and Jason is inviting him back. 

“I can't,” he says, barely choking the words out. “The babies are too little.” 

Jason hesitates, clearly unsure of what argument to make to that. “Why does it matter how old they are?” He questions, practically. “Are you the only one who takes care of them?”

“No,” Tim breathes and sees possibilities stretch before him. Ash and Baz would be fine, surely, for a month. He could go home and see his family. He could help them maintain Gotham. He could see Bruce. He could be with _Jason_. “I can't,” he repeats. “I want to. But I can't.” 

Jason frowns. “Why not?”

“Because if I go, I'm not going to want to come back,” Tim answers, voice a whisper. “And I can't leave them behind.” 

He hasn't realized until Jason's arms come around him that he's unwilling to give up access to his children. He's not sure he likes them, or can raise them, but he certainly won't submit them to being raised anything like Damian was raised. They are _his_ and he doubts life here is going to be any kinder to alphas than it would be to omegas. 

Jason holds him, letting Tim press his face in the curve of his neck. The man stinks like blood and sweat, but Tim has never smelled anything better. It's familiar in a way nothing here has been, or ever will be. Tim shakes apart in his arms, and everything is forgiven at least for these few minutes. 

“I should clean up,” Jason says at last. “If I'm getting ejected in the next couple of days I at least want a shower and some food.” 

Tim pulls back. “Of course,” he says. “Please, use my shower. I'll find you some clothes and food.” He hesitates as he stands, realizing Jason is staring at him. “What?”

“You sound different,” Jason admits. “I'm not trying to start shit by telling you this, either, but you sound like _him_ and not like you. You are still you, right?”

Those are, admittedly, fighting words to Tim but he nods. He's been here, around Ra's, long enough that his speech patterns probably have changed. Omegas tend to copy the father of their children, as well, but he doesn't want to think of that. 

Jason showers, and Tim finds clothing and food for him. Ra's doesn't summon him, which is suspicious in and of itself, and the babies arrive for their evening visit with Tim on schedule. Jason is being treated as his guest, which is fine. Tim does notice the increased security outside his rooms, and that guards pass beneath his window more often. 

He introduces the babies to Jason, with a bit of hesitation. He's almost ashamed of their parentage, in the face of this man, but Jason treats them like any other children. Ash screeches at the unfamiliar presence until Tim gathers him back up and retreats, but Baz lazes on Jason's lap while he rubs his recently-filled stomach like the baby is some kind of house cat. “How much longer do you want to wait for a visit?” Jason asks, and the real question is clear. He's asking how old Tim thinks the babies should be for an escape attempt. 

“I have no idea,” Tim admits. “I'm kind of new at this.” 

Jason doesn't question him again. They talk into the night about Gotham. Jason knows less about Bruce's legal progress other than that Dick swears they are making leeway. Hospitals are back to nearly full function for basic surgeries and traumas. The crime rate is dropping for the first time in ages. 

Tim feels warm and pleased at last. He barely notices exhaustion creeping up on him until Jason is laughing at him for nodding off while he's speaking. “I should probably go to bed,” he admits, rising to his feet and hesitating. It's improper, somehow, this offer he's about to make. But it's time for Ra's to learn that Tim doesn't truly belong to him, isn't it? “Do you want to come?”

For the first time, it seems like he's surprised Jason. They go to bed, and Tim is no less exhausted in the morning, but definitely far more satisfied. 

Jason leaves later that day, escorted by Ra's's top agents to an unknown destination. He'll be back. Tim knows he'll be back, when the babies are a little older but not a lot heavier. Until then, Tim will bask in the privileges he's gained now that Ra's is more secure in his loyalty. He has freedoms, he has access to finances to squander away, and he has a plan. 

It's like he has a purpose again.

**Author's Note:**

> Reviews/Comments/Questions? Drop them below. Prompts/other? Below or [here](http://strikeyourcolors.tumblr.com/ask)! Thanks for reading and indulging this little experiment.


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